I have been reading about yeast starters, and the consensus is to use LME or DME to pitch the yeast into, then let it sit for a day or 2 before brewing. My question: Is there an alternative if you don't have any LME or DME available (honey, corn sugar??)? The HBS is an hour's drive from my house, so its a little inconvenient. This will be my first All-Grain batch, so I would love for the fermentation to work well. I'd like to brew it this coming Thursday. HELP!

Key nutrients include oxygen, zinc, amino acids, and nitrogen. Oxygen is one of the things many brewers ignore, yet it is critical to the survival and growth of yeast. You should do what you can to provide oxygen to the yeast, as it tends to be the most limiting factor for most starters.

Use an all malt wort for starters. The sugar in the starter needs to be maltose, not simple sugar. Yeast that have been eating a lot of simple sugars stop making the enzyme that enable it to break down maltose, which is the main sugar in wort. The yeast quickly learn to be lazy and the ability to fully attenuate a batch of beer suffers.